Aaron Kushner

University of Georgia panics, rescinds invitation to Liberian journalist: It canceled Wade C.L. Williams‘ invitation to speak Oct. 23. “It just became abundantly clear we had a risk scenario and a situation on our hands that was a little more sensitive issue,” Grady College dean Charles N. Davis tells Brad Schrade. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) | Williams: “A woman with a pleasant voice delicately told me that parents were panicking and the general public was against my coming to the university.” (FrontPageAfrica) | What sort of lecture was UGA planning? “Ebola in humans is spread only through direct contact with virus-laden bodily fluids, and is not as transmissible as such airborne viruses as influenza and measles.” (WP) | Related: Why Guardian journalist Monica Mark decided not to wear a hazmat suit while reporting on Ebola: “It’s really difficult to get someone to open up to when you’re wearing it.” (IBT)

The ethics of the Guardian’s Whisper scoop: Was it OK for it to report on something it learned during a meeting about a potential partnership?

It’s Thursday. Here’s a pop quiz: How many media stories do you think you’re about to get?

UK newspaper distributor will do same-day Amazon deliveries: “Connect Group will make early morning deliveries at the same time as it delivers daily newspapers and use contractors to fulfill a second delivery in the afternoon.” Connect distributes The Guardian and The Mirror, Rory Gallivan reports. (Wall Street Journal)

Longtime S.F. Chronicle editor William German dies at 95: “Mr. German began his career at the paper as a copy boy. When he retired 62 years later, he was the dean of West Coast editors. He had helped transform The Chronicle from the No.3 newspaper in a four-newspaper city to the largest paper in Northern California.” (San Francisco Chronicle)

BBC battles Ebola in Africa with WhatsApp: “The service will deliver information on preventative care, health tips and breaking news bulletins specific to the region about the virus in French and English, and often in audio formats,” writes Alastair Reid.

CNN will cut 300 jobs: About 130 people have taken buyouts, and 170 more will be laid off, Brian Stelter reports. Parent Turner Broadcasting plans to lay off 1,475 people. (CNN) | “Turner said it was adding 150 employees in growth areas.” (NYT)

How not to talk about sports with anyone: Men’s Health tweeted an image of a woman holding a foam finger under the legend “How to Talk about Sports with Women.” The link led to a slight Teresa Sabga story called “The Secret to Talking Sports with Any Woman.” The mag apologized on Twitter: “It missed the mark and the negative feedback is justified. We’ve deleted it.” (@MensHealthMag) | A brief selection of reactions: “is this a joke?” (@AishaS) | “hi @MensHealthMag, you don’t know me, but i run @ESPNMag’s annual analytics issue.

Los Angeles Register closes: O.C. Register owner Aaron Kushner immediately ceases publication of the newspaper, which launched in April. “Pundits and local competitors who have closely followed our entry into Los Angeles will be quick to criticize our decision to launch a new newspaper and they will say that we failed,” a memo says. “We believe, the true definition of failure is not taking bold steps toward growth.” (LAT) | That notable bit of Kushner-speak has echoes in this amazing quote from him following buyouts in June: “Everyone says our strategy has failed. Perhaps they should be saying that our strategy has not succeeded?” (OC Weekly) | Another quote! Kushner on the the L.A.

— Media critics weren’t critical enough of Aaron Kushner’s print-centric strategy at the Orange County Register, Clay Shirkywrites, helping to poison the minds of young people who need to understand that print is in a death spiral from which it can’t recover. Read more

In a meeting with employees Monday to discuss buyouts, Orange County Register owner Aaron Kushner said, “Everyone says our strategy has failed. Perhaps they should be saying that our strategy has not succeeded?” Gustavo Arellano has a recording of the session.

The Los Angeles Register launches Wednesday. Owners Aaron Kushner and Eric Spitz “are hand-delivering copies of the newspaper on Wednesday to business and civic leaders across Los Angeles,” the paper says in a press release.

Wednesday’s L.A. Register (photograph by Sandee Oshiro)

The paper promises heavy local coverage and opinion columnists who “will bring a right-of-center perspective and engage in civil debate,” as well as “more than a dozen new community editions,” the release says. Some of the staff moving north from the Register’s homebase in Orange County, where Kushner publishes the Orange County Register, include sports columnist T.J. Simers; food writers Brad A. Johnson, Nancy Luna and Cathy Thomas; and film critic Michael Sragow. Read more

Freedom Communications’ challenge to the Los Angeles Times — the Los Angeles Register — will soft launch on April 16, the company announced Monday. The company also plans to introduce roughly a dozen community papers throughout Los Angeles County.

Over 7,500 retail and news rack locations will carry the Register at $1.50 on weekdays and $2 on Saturdays and Sundays, the company said. Home delivery will follow at an initial four-week subscription rate of $19.99.

“The Los Angeles Register will deliver community-building information about local activities, people and issues that impact our lives every day,” said Aaron Kushner, co-owner of Freedom Communications and Publisher of the Los Angeles Register. “Newspapers play an incredibly vital role in the social fabric of our lives- informing, inspiring and connecting us with our community.

The new paper will have “not quite the heft of the Orange County Register,” Kushner said, and it will be produced by the O.C. Register’s existing staff, Milbourn reports. It will have an L.A. office, he told Milbourn.

Selling the newspaper “would allow the Company to continue to focus resources and management time and attention on its core Dallas market,” an A.H. Belo press release says. The company also owns The Dallas Morning News and the Denton Record-Chronicle. It recently sold The (Riverside, Calif.) Press-Enterprise to Aaron Kushner.